Airsimmer reinstall. Blood pressure rising already.

[BenW 0]

Guys, I gave up on the extended version of Airsimmer's A320 many moons ago but after overdosing on ifly's 737 I'm hankering after a bit of Bus action again. Wilco's version is just too basic inside and reminds me of something from FS2000 so I logged into Airsimmer's forums and downloaded the base installer for the A320, spurred on by reports on here from people who say they've had some success with the latest revisions. Once installed, it opens up the tablet PC thingy and asks for my Flight 1 order number. When I put this in it justs says 'error'. Is this because Airsimmer's activation servers are dead? I can't therefore update the base model and although the aircraft shows up in the FS9 aircraft menu it crashes to desktop (ah the Airsimmer memories are coming flooding back) when I try to load it. The Airsimmer forums are impenetable with a million unresolved tech questions but I did find a post that said to reinstall the ET version you have to uninstall, copy textures across, build a new config file, reinstall, delete files and offer to the gods of EADS the blood of your first born (I might have made up the last bit). Does anyone know how I might get this working? Coming from the iFly, with its virtually flawless simulation and superb customer support I don't know whether it's worse the hassle but I'd like to give it a go. What a shame that the Airsimmer didn't quite make it. From memory the textures, sound and modelling were absolutely top notch but it seems ironic that FS9 is more suited to modelling planes that move by mechanical cables than computer impulses, as they could never nail the systems modelling. I did try Aerosoft's Airbus X, but FSX runs like crap on my iMac and under the nice textures the Airbus X is just the default model in a posh frock. Another wasted opportunity, sadly.

[ReneB 3]

Hello, As one of the simmers who fly the current version of the AS A320 with much pleasure, I feel I should try and help you. First of all, since the arrival of Rob Prest (called FLEX1976, I believe) at the AS support forum, this has become a very customer friendly place for all kinds of problems. Great support and fast answers. If you have downloaded the Flight1 wrapper, you shouldn't have to update anything, since by pushing the reinstall button, you get the latest version of the bus, which is 1.3. I had the same problem when trying to install a version which I had stored on CD a few years ago. After uninstalling and reinstalling with my account at Flight1 there wasn't any problem with activation. By the way, the latest version is still being worked on, but the forum posts of the last few months give a lot of info as to tweaks and workarounds for the problems you may have in operating this aircraft. Hope this helps. Kind regards,René

[BenW 0]

Hi Rene Thanks for the reply. The version I end up with is SL 0.5.0, which can't be right. Just to be sure, are we talking about the current extended team version being 1.3? The version I have is the one from the 'downloads' section of the Airsimmer forum. Downloading and installing this requires going through the F1 wrapper. Is there a 1.3 version somewhere on the Flight 1 website? Sorry for all the questions! Ben *ETA I think you mean the basic version, which I see I can have as an ET member. I'll give that a go. Ta.

[out 769]

Ben, please log into the support section of AirSimmer's forums.Then let Rob Proest know about your problem. The fastest way is to send him a PM.I am sure he will help you activate your product instantly. PS Yes, switching between iFly and AirSimmer is exactly what I've been doing lately.

[FOD 23]

BenI would go back to the ET if I were you. I've got both installed and I prefer the ET -a full sector on my VA this pm. Of course, you have to remember where the CTD are -but then the ET has much more to offer.And the ET forum is still going strong - we are always hoping!!John R

[Stick 0]

I re-installed yesterday, and activated no problem, so the AS server is definately still working. I still had the V1.0 (normal release, not extended beta) Flight 1 wrapper on my HD, so I just ran that, hit the "re-install" button, pointed it to my license, and installation went fine. Then when I ran the AS tablet, it asked for my F1 certificate number - I had to get this from an old email from 2009 that I got when I purchased (thank god for Gmail, and it's archiving!). Put in the certifiate and activated no problem. I then hit "update" on the tablet and got all the liveries and the V1.1, V1.2, V1.2.1, and V1.3 updates. However......... to me, the flight dynamics became nastily twitchy and unrealistic from 1.2 onwards, so I rolled back to V1.1 which I'm staying at for now, as it flies perfectly on my system. People who have let the AS slip by or been unlucky enough to have lots of problems with it (I've never ever had a CTD with it) are really missing a trick: it's a superb plane; the best ever in FS9 in my opinion. Cheers.

[BenW 0]

I managed to have a go in the Basic version last night and I was pleasantly surprised. Performance is good, the VC and soundset are up there with anything else ever released for FS9 and for a 'lite' product there's plenty in there. Whilst on AP it flies pretty well but things got interesting once I kicked it out on final and I ended up wobbling all over the sky. No CTDs or other problems, although it didn't seem to like loading any liveried versions so I ended up flying the Airsimmer default model. I'll keep trying.

[Stick 0]

Hi Ben, That wobbling all over the sky when handflying on approach is exactly why I rolled back to V1.1 (actually V1.0 was always fine for me too). I know exactly what you mean, it's like the Airbus has no stability at all on the roll axis, and it's very hard to track the runway on approach, as a result. I tried increasing the 'Roll Stability' setting in the [Flight_Tuning] entry of the Airsimmer's aircraft.cfg but it only helped a little. But rolling back to V1.1 pretty much eradicated the issue at this end. Cheers.

[BenW 0]

Well gents, the weekend has gone by and my wife has been most patient (actually she's been catching up on Glee, so that worked out well!) while I've been swearing at an Airbus. After a third attempt I managed to get the ET version installed and updated, but once installed, ran straight into three different show stoppers. One was a rogue gauge that brings the whole show down (uninstall, delete cfg, reinstall, load Cessna, load Airbus, reinstate cfg!), the second was the CTD when starting the APU from the VC (must remember to do it from the 2D and then there's the one where all the sounds vanish if you pause the sim or go to the menu. There is a fix for that but by this time I was ready for murder so I'll try that tomorrow. Doubtless there'll be others but I shall persist. The annoying thing is that coming from the iFly 737 you can see that the Airsimmer so nearly made it. As I said above, the VC and immersion factor is as good as iFly's and it's wonderful to have a go at something different to a Boeing, as once you've cracked the 737, a 75,76, 74 or even 777 is not that much different. Using it with TOPCAT you can really do it properly, putting in stuff like flap setting, THS and FLEX and it works really well. In the basic I did a couple of short flights and for what I mostly do (flights using radar contact, maximum use of automatics, checklists and stuff) it would do the job pretty well if it wasn't for the crappy handling on final. Stick, I'll try your idea - how do I roll back using the tablet PC?

[FLEX1978 373]

Hey Ben, Sorry if you sent me a PM over the weekend, I am in the process of moving abroad so the past few days have been pretty hectic. First thing, as an ET member you should know from your NDA that you shouldn't be discussing the Advanced Beta product outside of the ET forums so please post over there and I will be glad to assist. Back to the basic, personally I find the handling during manual flight the most realistic of all the FS addons I have used, I have spent a considerable amount of LVL-D time on the A320/330 and with the controller null zone and sensitivity setup correctly it is extremely true to life, I often handfly the A320 from top of descent, most of my previous addons involved ap on at 500ft and then disconnect after G/S intercept although using a basic yoke like the CH Pro probably had a lot to do with it. If you find the aircraft is unstable on approach it sounds like a combination of PIO and an over sensitive controller. I use the Saitek X52 Pro with Pedals and Logitech Attack 3 with the A320. Feel free to get in touch and we can work towards setting up a good profile for you to use. Lastly, when you handfly this aircraft you need to remember that unlike flying with a yoke the A3xx sidestick inputs are commanding a roll rate and load factor. Regards

[BenW 0]

Hi Rob Sorry for potentially breaking the NDA - I figured that Oyster Bay Media had bigger fish to fry than me right now but if that's not the case then good - that hopefully means that someone cares enough to get this thing finished one day! I also have a Logitech Attack 3 I bought especially for the Airbus a couple of years back so I'll go back to the settings and see if that helps. Good luck with the move and I'll see you over at the AS forums. Ben

[Stick 0]

Ben, Technically speaking, rolling back isn't possible, as the tablet doesn't let you unistall the updates. (bah!)... I just happen to have a V1.0 flight 1 wrapper installer, so to roll back, i uninstall the AS and reinstall that again. Rob's a great guy and has been a huge part of people almost winning respect back in the Airsimmer Team, however I would respectfully say that when comments are made about the roll instability after AP disconnect, I never feel they're taken seriously. I therefore suspect that there is some sort of config issue that causes this issue for some of us, that Rob maybe hasn't seen yet. I've also had time on a Level D A320 sim that used to be at Manchester Airport, and I can honestly say that the issue that you and I are talking about, is far from realistic behaviour. What is notable is that hand flying seems fine on take-off and when hand flying the climbout, but then after AP disconnect on finals, the airplane just wants to roll off it's lateral axis. It just feels like it is wobbling, and late finals can be farcical! I definately thing something is happening on some of our configs that is causing this. As I said, the issue is almost non-existant of V1.0.. on my system it gradually got worse from V1.2 onwards. Cheers.

[FLEX1978 373]

Hi, did you use the modified ELEC and SEC configuration file posted on the tech forum? I think the problem here is we may not be using the same file, I made a sticky post with common tweaks that should be applied. Btw if you prefer the previous versions FBW it should be pretty easy for me to create a file that will allow you to use the latest patch and keep the old FBW.Anyway best to keep tech issues on the forum, let me know if you need help.Cheers

[fra147 65]

Hi Rob, I did'nt find the files you cited (modified ELEC and SEC configuration) in the tech forum...could you give me, privately here or there, if you prefer, the download link? Thanks

[Gavin 99]

Hi Rob, I did'nt find the files you cited (modified ELEC and SEC configuration) in the tech forum...could you give me, privately here or there, if you prefer, the download link? Thanks

Neither could I. I'd be grateful if you could give me a link to where in the registered owner's section I can find this. As a legal owner, I'll be able to access it. Sorry for being a bit dumb ;-)